Outman unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination for Michigan House of Representatives in the 70th district in 2008.[4] He was defeated in the primary election, coming in fourth place among six candidates.[5] Thomas A. Ginster won the Republican nomination,[5] and was in turn defeated in the November 2008 general election by Mike Huckleberry, the first Democrat to hold the seat since 1932.[6] Outman ran again in 2010 and defeated Huckleberry.[7] Outman was elected to two additional terms in the state House,[2] in 2012 and 2014.[1] His campaign manager in 2012 and 2014 was James Lower, who in 2016 was elected to the state House from the 70th district, after Outman was term-limited out.[8]
In 2012, Outman voted in favor of a "right-to-work law" that barred labor unions from collecting fees from workers represented under collective bargaining agreements.[9] In 2013, he voted against Medicaid expansion bill, which passed on a 76–31 vote (original version) and then a 75–32 vote (final version).[10][11] Medicaid expansion was supported by almost every Democrat, but Republican members were split, with a little more than half voting no and the rest voting yes.[10] In 2014, Outman voted against a compromise bill to increase Michigan's minimum wage to $9.25 an hour by 2018. The bill passed the House on a 76–34 vote and the Senate on a 24–12 vote, and was signed into law by Governor Rick Snyder.[12]
He was ineligible to run for reelection to the House in 2016 due to term limits, and was hired as a legislative staffer (district liaison) by Republican state Senator Judy Emmons at the end of 2016.[3] Emmons was ineligible to run for reelection to the Senate due to term limits.[3] In 2018, Outman won election to fill her state Senate seat.[1][3] The district is solidly Republican; Outman won the August 2018 Republican primary election with 72 percent of the vote, and won the 2018 general election by a margin of about 20 percentage points.[3] He took office in 2019.[2] Outman then hired Emmons to be his district liaison.[3]
Outman cosponsored, with Senator Marshall Bullock, bipartisan legislation to ban minors from using electronic cigarettes (vaping).[13]
During the COVID-19 pandemic in Michigan, Outman criticized Governor Gretchen Whitmer for coronavirus restrictions.[14]
In the 2020 presidential election, Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump; Biden won by three percentage points in Michigan.[15][16] Trump subsequently launched an effort to overturn the election result and remain in power. In January 2021, Outman was one of 11 Republican Michigan state senators who promoted Trump's false claims of fraud in the 2020 election; in a letter sent to Congress on January 6, 2021, ahead of the formal counting of the electoral votes, Outman and the other members of the group baselessly suggested that there were "credible allegations of election-related concerns surrounding fraud and irregularities."[17]
As of 2022, Outman was chair of the Department of Health and Human Services sub-committee budget and the Environmental Quality Committee.[2]
Outman's 33rd state Senate district originally encompassed Montcalm, Clare, Gratiot, Isabella, and Mecosta counties. In the 2020 redistricting cycle, the district was redrawn to cover seven counties in West Michigan: all of Montcalm and Newaygo counties and portions of Kent, Ionia, Lake, Muskegon, and Ottawa counties. Outman is seeking reelection in 2022 in the new district.[2] During his campaign, he accused Whitmer of attempting "to centrally plan our society."[2]